On Thursday, RCMP crash investigators briefly closed the rural intersection at which 16 people were killed or mortally wounded by the April 6 collision of the Humboldt Broncos team bus with a tractor trailer carrying peat moss.

“We want to answer the question of why the truck was in the intersection,” Saskatchewan RCMP commanding officer Curtis Zablocki told a press conference.

As officers continue to piece together the cause of the crash, however, grieving Canadians have been discussing measures that could stop a similar tragedy from happening again. Below, a few of the ideas that have been buzzing around council chambers, social media and coffee shops.

Crackdown on inexperienced drivers

On Thursday, RCMP confirmed that the semi-truck which collided with the Humboldt Broncos team bus was in an intersection when it shouldn’t have been. The bus had the right-of-way on Highway 35 and the semi-truck should have stopped at a stop sign. Investigators are not yet ready to say if negligence caused the crash, and the possibility is still open that it could have been caused by mechanical failure or a medical emergency. Nevertheless, the crash has caused numerous veteran truckers to call out inexperience in their industry. “The accident was caused only by one thing. Lack of experience,” one retired trucker told the National Post in an email. Currently, there is no mandatory training to be licensed as a Saskatchewan truck driver; they need only to pass a road test. “So people get a licence on an auto because that is easy to pass, but when they get a job they are manual, so sometimes they don’t know how to shift gears,” Sardaj Pannu, instructor with Punjab Driving Academy in Calgary, told Postmedia. In a widely shared video, Humboldt, Sask., truck driver Kim Wylie called for the trucking industry to adopt a graduated licensing system, similar to other trades. “I’ve seen a lot of inexperienced drivers in our industry … and it’s got to come to a stop,” he said. Moves to that end are already being made in Alberta, with Alberta Transportation issuing a statement saying it is at work on a mandatory training program.

Better intersection signage The site of the crash, known locally as Armley Corner, is a two-way stop marked only by a stop sign and a flashing light. As the crash occurred at late afternoon on a clear day, investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver of the semi-truck may have been blinded by the sun. Still, Armley Corner has minimal signage, particularly as compared to other high-speed prairie intersections with a history of fatal collisions (six were killed in a 1997 crash at the junction). Alberta has struggled with the problem of deadly rural intersections for years, and has drafted guidelines laying out all manner of signage to make crossroads more visible. These include a gauntlet of lighted signs leading up to the intersection, oversized stop signs, painted warnings on approaching pavement and more elaborate arrays of beacons.

As a councillor in the RM where this tragedy has happened. And this being the second multi fatal accident at that intersection. I will lobby for better signage and lighting at this intersection so this never happens again. #humboltstrong@PremierScottMoe@MPRandyHoback

Seatbelts on buses Below is video of a crash test conducted on a motorcoach by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The coach was driven into a rigid barrier at 48 km/h, much slower than the speed at which the Humboldt Broncos bus was likely travelling in its final moments (the posted speed limit on Highway 35 was 100 km/h). Nevertheless, as the video shows, seatbelted crash test dummies fared relatively well in the collision. Those without seatbelts, meanwhile, were catapulted from their seats and sent tumbling into the aisles. Large parts of the Humboldt Broncos bus was destroyed in the crash, making seatbelts irrelevant. However, a portion of the bus’ seats were left relatively intact, and restraints worn in these seats might have been able to prevent a passenger from being thrown from the crash. In comments after the crash, the Canada Safety Council said it did not know if seat belts would have made a difference, but noted “as a general rule, seat belts are designed to save lives.”

Better visibility at approaches The photo below, taken from Google Street View, shows what Armley Corner would have looked like from the front windscreen of the Humboldt Broncos team bus. There are plenty of Saskatchewan intersections in which the province’s flat topography makes it possible to see well in advance whether an approaching vehicle might be failing to slow down. At Armley Corner, however, the tree cover on the right would have hid the semi-truck until the last moments. “If you come out across that intersection, the guy in the bus is absolutely, totally unaware that you’re going to pull out in front of him because he doesn’t even see you until you’re both looking at each other,” Grant Merriman, president of the La Ronge Ice Wolves and the team’s bus driver, told Postmedia.

Armley Corner as it would have looked from the Humboldt Broncos team bus just moments before the crash.Google Street View

Better intersection design One of the easiest fixes to Armley Corner would be the immediate installation of rumble strips. That way, any approaching vehicles on Highway 335 would feel shudders from the roadway warning them of an approaching stop sign. This was suggested after the crash by Dale Poggemiller, a councillor with the Rural Municipality of Connaught. “I sure see it now that it’d probably be a very good idea,” he said. However, according to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways, the measure may be difficult on that particular roadway, since it isn’t made from traditional asphalt. Saskatchewan may also consider a complete overhaul of the intersection design. As was noted this week in the National Post, other deadly rural intersections in Canada have seen crash rates plummet after conversion to a roundabout.

The stop sign on highway 335. Crash investigators are looking into why the driver of a semi-truck apparently failed to obey this sign.The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

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